Production printing systems for high-volume printing typically utilize a print engine that marks a continuous-form print medium (e.g., paper) with a wet colorant (e.g., an aqueous ink). After marking the print medium, a dryer downstream from the print engine used to dry the colorant applied to the print medium. In some cases, the dryer is integrated within the same assembly as the print engine.
In high-speed production printing systems, it is often desirable to cool the print medium downstream of the dryer to ensure that the print medium does not warp or deform. It is also desirable to cool the print medium downstream of the dryer to ensure that the subsequent print engines used to mark the print medium downstream of the dryer are not impacted by the high temperature of the print medium. Further, it is often desirable to cool the print medium prior to performing post-production processing on the print medium, such as cutting, stapling, folding, etc. Cooling the print medium ensures that the dimensions of the print medium will not change after a post-production activity.
In some cases, cooling rollers are used to cool the print medium by heat transfer. The cooling rollers are disposed downstream of the dryer along a media path of the print medium. However, the cooling rollers may cause temperature differentials across the print medium, which can cause warping of the print medium. The use of fluid-filled (e.g. water) cooling rollers may reduce the temperature differential across print medium, but fluid-filled cooling rollers may be prone to leaking, corrosion, or organic growth. Thus, it would be desirable to ensure that the print medium is adequately cooled while minimizing the temperature differentials across print medium, while mitigating the problems associated with fluid-filed rollers.